way. most of the share markets are headed higher. our markets guest will fill you in on all you need to know. and we'll get the inside track on the all important inflight experience — we've all had a bad or memorable one — so how do plane—makers deliver what passenger actually want? we will hear from man whose job it is to make the cabin a place you'd want to be. so today we want to know what's most important to you when you fly? let us know. just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. i will soon be on a long haulflight with three little boys. i don't think anyone can help me. i'm dreading it. the leaders of two economic powerhouses meet today. it was all smiles on the tarmac. us president donald trump is in beijing as part of a marathon asia tour and is set to announce billions of dollars in deals to address a trade inbalance with china. china is america's largest trading partner, but it's a tense relationship largely due to a yawning trade gap, which means america buys more from china than it sells to it, that was nearly $350 billion last year. trump has bolstered his presence with a team of corporate bigwigs, including bosses of goldman sachs, boeing and energy firm texas. he aims to sign deals that mean china buys more us goods, from farming to energy. the trump administration is also threatening to impose import tariffs of around 20% on steel from china and other nations, as it tries to adress a global glut and protect its domestic industry. the us has already imposed preliminary import duties, between 97% and 162%, on chinese aluminium foil, saying the goods are being sold at unfair low prices. the us is also investigating claims that china has stolen us intellectual property, ignoring patent and copyright rules. steve mcdonnell is in beijing. steve, it has been a huge amount of talk about war on this asia trip. waron talk about war on this asia trip. war on the korean peninsula, possibly, you never know and trade war with china. what's he been saying? what are the chances the idea of trade war with china? yes, well, of course, the two big subjects, you're right are north korea's nuclear weapons and trade relations on this trip to asia from donald trump. now i think the message here, although we haven't heard from him yet is going to be similarto heard from him yet is going to be similar to what we heard injapan and south korea which was that china and south korea which was that china andjapan and and south korea which was that china and japan and south korea have unfair trade relations when it comes to the united states. now, there is quite some debate about this and as we speak, donald trump is inside the forbidden city. i guess initially it could be pleasa ntries forbidden city. i guess initially it could be pleasantries and the like, but they will be getting down to serious talks over the coming two days and what we might expect, when the leaders meet, especially in another country, they love to have another country, they love to have an announceable in diplomatic speak, keep an eye out where it might be an announcement about china investing in the us in some way or some sort ofa in the us in some way or some sort of a deal along those lines because it makes it appear like there is some sort of movement on this question of the trade imbalance that we we re question of the trade imbalance that we were just speaking about. what does the chinese president want out of this, do you think? well, i think, you know, for him, of course, it is the same for donald trump, these two countries so need each other when it comes to the economy and it's why, you know, they are banding together also to try and sort out the problem with north korea's nuclear weapons because china hates destabilisation. it wa nts china hates destabilisation. it wants things to be calm and steady for trade and commerce and relations in the region. and that is a threat. so it's also an economic threat when they are talking about the pressure that north korea is bringing to bear on other countries and so, yes, i think both countries would like to see a much betterflow think both countries would like to see a much better flow of commerce, but they do have their differences. imean but they do have their differences. i mean for example, there are all sorts of industries here that foreigners, foreign companies cannot invest in. you can't buy a chinese cold mine for example or chinese steel mill and for many industries, u nless steel mill and for many industries, unless you're doing it with a sort of co—operation, joint venture with the chinese outfit then you can't do business in china. other countries including the united states are saying that's not fair because we let chinese countries chinese companies come to our country and these are the things that they will be trying to nut out. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. shares in the owner of snapchat have plunged in after hours trading after the firm reported losses of more than $400 million in the last three months. the company struggled to attract new users and had lower than expected revenue. snap says it is now working to overhaul the messaging app. we will have more in a moment. sky has suggested it is open to shutting down its news channel in order to facilitate its takeover by rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. fox already owns 39% of sky, but regulators are investigating the deal amid concerns that mr murdoch's media empire could become too powerful. twitter has doubled its tweet limit to 280 characters in a bid to draw in more users. the company announced an experiment in september which will now be rolled out to users worldwide. the decision is part of plans to try and boost engagement at the social network. have you done it yet? what? tweeted more than 140 characters. have you done it yet? what? tweeted more than 140 characterslj have you done it yet? what? tweeted more than 140 characters. i think it is really important to have that discipline of the 140 or whatever it was. i have been waffling like mad. it encourages wafflers. they say teenagers have become better at writing because they are more concise. they put likes like u. never mind, that's just carping. concise. they put likes like u. never mind, that'sjust carping. i wa nted never mind, that'sjust carping. i wanted the picture of groundhog. you are going to have to explain why it is there. it is groundhog day for marks and spender. we will be talking about m&s more in a while. nissan has lowered its annual profit forecast by almost 6% after a certification scandal forced it to recall more than a million vehicles. the japanese car—maker revealed last month that unqualified technicians had been carrying out the inspections of vehicles for decades. leisha santorelli is in singapore. tell us more about nissan? well, sally, this is a poor result for nissan given its biggest rivals honda and toyota just raised their profit outlooks when they reported this. is due to several reasons, sales in the us has not been doing well. nissan had to make compensation payments in the us for cases by the faulty airbags. the biggest reason has to do with the certification scandal, nissan was forced to stop production for nearly a month and six factories produce about 1,000 cars a month and six factories produce about1,000 carsa a month and six factories produce about 1,000 cars a day for the japanese market. that really hit the deliveries in october. so reputationly, this is very damaging to nissan's new chief executive officer who took over in april and he promised to get to the bottom of the mess, but the good news is a nalysts the mess, but the good news is analysts believe the certification scandal at nissan will only have a temporary impact on earnings so the outlook past this next financial year maybe brighter since we have a weakening yen. toyota doing well today on markets. its shares up 1%. japan as well closing up on the day, 23 points. nothing too dramatic, but a slight increase, but you can see across asia, it was a mixed day, if not a flat day. let's look at europe now. marks & spencer. their pre—tax profits down by 5.3%. the news that their chief financial officer helen weir is going. we are not sure why she is going, but a lot of changes at the top with the director of clothing at mas gone. m&s shares flat, but markets headed slightly up. we will talk more on markets. here is more detail on snapchat. here's samira. snapchat had its best day nine months ago back in march, when it first started trading on the new york stock exchange. its share price skyrocketed that day by 44%, but since then it's been a steady decline. the business is not growing the way investors had hoped. this past quarter, snapchat‘s daily active users only grew by 17%. they are facing some stiff competition from facebook—owned instagram. another big setback has been advertising. smaller advertisers still haven't figured out how, or even why, they should advertise on snapchat. now, compare that to facebook, which made $10 billion from advertising injust the last quarter. snap execs have asked for patience from investors, butjust how long will they wait before jumping ship? time could be running out for the little app that was built just five years ago by a couple of kids in college. joining us is lawrence gosling, editor in chief of investment week. good morning. good morning. it looks like a bit of a disaster. i have to say. talking about twitter increasing the number of characters as well, the pressure on snapchat looks humongous to me and difficult to see how they can innovate their way out of this problem. their losses are getting bigger. market is giving up hope on them and more importantly, they are not attracting as many users. my children don't talk about it very much anymore. as many users. my children don't talk about it very much anymorem that because they are snapping and not talking to you? no, they are definitely talking to me! they are using different platforms to communicate with their friends. doesn't it emphasise the difficulty you have now, coming under the radar and trying to get a place in this market which is so dominated by the facebooks and the googles and the twitters? you have got to come in with something that's truly disruptive and something... then they just buy you disruptive and something... then theyjust buy you out or copy disruptive and something... then they just buy you out or copy you? it is easy. facebook tried to buy them. if you are a big company, it is easier to buy it or copyt it is cheaper to copy in reality particularly if you are buying a business with $400 million of losses. m&s. .. yes. a lot going on there. the cfo, the director of clothing has gone and profits going down and margins squeezed. it is really difficult? it is a bit like snapchat, a horrible place to be. new chairman, archie norman who has a great reputation for turning businesses around, so not too much ofa businesses around, so not too much of a surprise to see senior people going, but the bottom line is, their clothing offering is not one that's universally popular. they have kind of lost focus. but the money they make on their food has been of lost focus. but the money they make on theirfood has been really squeezed? that's the lesson of the rest of the food retailers, the tescos etcetera. laurence, stay there, because we are going to talk about the papers in a while. see you ina about the papers in a while. see you in a second. still to come. what's most important to you when you board an aiplane, being on time, comfortable seat or access to the internet? one viewer says legroom. someone else said landing! we ask the head of cabin services at airbus about the future of flying. you're with business live from bbc news. and in the last hour marks and spencer has revealed its half—year results. it used to be the darling of the high street. it had a tough half—year. high street. it had a tough half-year. s pre-tax down 5.3%. news that the retailer's chief financial officer, helen weir is stepping down. mike ingram is the chief market strategist for wh ireland. hejoins us now from our newsroom. there seems to be a lot of things going on at the top of the management. is that a problem? yes, potentially because of course, the business faces a lot of challenges. the results that you mentioned weren't as bad as the market expectation. we were perhaps looking for a 10% decline in profitability, it was down 5.3% better like for likes in food and clothing, but at the end of the day, costing pressures remain intense particularly on the food business. having spoken to the company a little bit earlier on this morning, they are actually seem to be throttling back on this huge simply food roll—out which they were projecting only 12 months ago, again showing that the pricing environment isn't favourable. yes, the clothing margins came back somewhat. we were expecting a 2% decline in like for likes. is that going to be sustain? the director of clothing and beauty left after #13407b9s 10 months and it is the former chief executive of halfords who is in charge of that business now. what do you think the outlook is like? we've got all that change as you've just mentioned. like? we've got all that change as you'vejust mentioned. stephen roe the boss has come up with his five—year plan. we've got the recent introduction of archie norman. what's your outlook that m and s? when steve rowe unveiled his turnaround plan about five months ago he described it as fixed stabilise and grow. we were still firmly in that fix stage. these results are rather better. but it's very clear that they are scaling back on food and they need to accelerate the clothing reduction. thank you. sorry to interrupt you. mike ingram from wh ireland. the energy company sse says it is going to merge with npower. you're watching business live — our top story. it is president trump and the first lady. they have arrived in beijing. they've met president xi. of course the agenda is pretty packed. north korea will dominate but trade is also firmly on president trump's agenda. a quick look at how markets are faring. the european markets started just up but not a huge amount. and now let's get the inside track on airplane cabins. the industry is working hard to improve the limited cabin space, at least in first and business class. so, what do you see as the most important areas for improvement? a more comfortable seat? or is a great view your thing and you want bigger windows? or is it all about inflight entertainment and connectivity to get an insider's view ben met up with airbus' vice president for cabin marketing, ingo wuggetzer. what we find out in market research is they want the same product and services like they have on the ground. there should be a seamless transition if you are at home, at work or on an aircraft. it should be the same experience, maybe even better. are we seeing the days of getting on a plane where you were out of contact for eight hours or 12 hours, where you couldn't work particularly productively, you went in contact with the office or friends orfamily, in contact with the office or friends or family, those days are now over? i think that's the choice of the passenger. it really depends. if you can sleep, maybe you would prefer that service. if you cannot sleep, and i think 90% of passengers are still flying economy. they use in—flight entertainment or a connectivity system to make their travel very individual, using those applications they use at home. what other things that are holding back innovation as far as the airline passenger experience is concerned ? there is some limitation on the technical side. you have to use some satellites so the bandwidth might be not enough, not fast enough to serve 600 passengers on an aircraft for streaming applications and so one. when you are considering what you put on your next aircraft, how do you make those decisions? by the time you've got those aircraft in service, the technology has already changed. exactly. the software is a lot faster than hardware. that's why we approached our last aircraft as a modular platform. that makes it a lot easier to cope with. you can upgrade it. is there a danger that this innovation stalls? airline simply can't afford to put things on board any more. anything you talk about aircraft, it's always expensive. you have to provide a certain safety level. that is still something that people want. paint a picture of what air travel will look like five years from now. in terms of the cabin, i think we find the same structure but a higher segmentation. people have the same tube but the segmentation in the aircraft will change. we'll probably find up to six different classes or zones, whatever you call it. you can select a tailor—made product for different market needs. this is a strong trend that we've seen. in terms of connectivity, i think it will become really seamless. everybody can use their phone easily and will connect automatically. we also find a lot of opportunities in modern cabins to customise your experience. you will have a lot of led lighting that will create a spaciousness but also customised mood experience. tell me about ten, 15, 20 years. what are you working on now that will take that amount of time but you've already got an idea of how it will look? my future vision, forfuture of how it will look? my future vision, for future travel, of how it will look? my future vision, forfuture travel, to be honest, so you are sitting in an aircraft that has a transparent skin. you can look outside, enjoy the space around you, feel great about that, and then have a seat that moves with your body. that's the most comfortable seat you can get. you can also get some help treatment on the trip so you can arrive healthier than you started. that was the airbuses vice president talking and we asked you what was most important to you when you're on a plane. ben says non-reclining seats and power sockets. somebody said simply landing, getting there. window seat... where do you normally sit? i'm always near the toilet and it's always smelly. i was near the door. they tell you that you have to help out if gate—crash! door. they tell you that you have to help out if gate-crash! how did you get a seat near the door? i've got long legs! we need aaron, you always sits at the front i'm sure of it. we are going to talk about this story which is interesting to us being in the world of telly. sky threatening to close at sky news if the fox deal is blocked. i feel like to close at sky news if the fox deal is blocked. ifeel like this has been going on forever. sky's attem pts been going on forever. sky's atte m pts to been going on forever. sky's attempts to get full ownership of the company. it has and it feels like they are chucking the kitchen sink into making the market authority feel comfortable with the deal. i suspect sky news doesn't make much money for sky. from a commercial perspective it would probably work but that's not good for viewers in the uk looking for a wider set of news channels. he says get rid of it, close it down. he's not going to sell it off which would be different. it is a threat to the uk is saying you're going to have one less major news channel. yes, and the criticism against sky is a lwa ys and the criticism against sky is always that they have too much monopolistic media power. take away a news channel and arguably other organisations fill that void. just to give our international viewers perspective on this, they may not realise to what extent this organisation dominates the media in the uk. it's notjust broadcast but it's also many print, but then that has reduced. yes. obviously the news of the world is no longer. it is a big organisation. the football right through the premier league has grown through the premier league has grown through sky's distribution of it. it's an incredibly important company. and their political influence through print newspapers isa influence through print newspapers is a lot less than it used to be. absolutely, because the world is going more digital. some of their print titles haven't transition does well. you could argue that they having kept pace in the digital world. no, because it is a difficult migration to take a classic newspaper reader over to the digital world. when you're on a plane, the most important thing? decent lighting so i can read. also i would be with the number climbing feats because it's the bane of my life when someone pushes the seat right back. you can recline your stock macular nottage lost that right at the back! laughter -- not if you're sitting right at the back. there's nothing worse than spending however many hours with your knees up by your chest! thank you for coming in. thank you for your comments. goodbye. we had a cold and frosty start this morning but that's because we had clear skies overnight last night. that led to some really good shots of the aurora. this was in scotland by one of our weather watchers. we've got some clear skies for many of us for the moment but in eastern areas, more cloud with outbreaks of rain into the afternoon. for much of northern england, it's going to be fine and sunny. pretty chilly with temperatures only about 7—8dc. could see if you spots of rain in norfolk and suffolk but on the whole it will stay quite cloudy and largely dry. head further west and as you can see, lots and lots of sunshine throughout the afternoon. any patchy mist and fog will clear away giving us mist and fog will clear away giving us blue skies. as i mentioned, a chilly feeling. after sunshine this morning in scotland and northern ireland we will see more cloud moving in with patchy rain spreading through northern ireland, more significant rain in western areas of scotland. temperatures around 8—9. through the rest of the afternoon into the evening, the cloud finally clears away from the south—east. some clear skies making it an quite chilly quite quickly. then we've got more cloud spreading in across most areas. spitz and spots of rain sinking south with temperatures around 7—8. not as cold first thing tomorrow morning as it was this morning. on thursday that cloud will move away from the south taking light rain with it. good spells of sunshine developing. more so across the northern half of the uk with top temperatures on thursday up to 10-14. not temperatures on thursday up to 10—14. not as cold. through thursday night and friday we've got this weather system which will spreading from the west. that will bring outbreaks of rain. just the south of northern ireland, moving into wales and the south—west of england, eventually pushing to the south—east later in the day. temperatures on friday about 10—13. as for the weekend, it's going to be quite bright. any cloud and rain clearing away. fairly breezy conditions with the wind coming in from the north. it will feel noticeably colder as we go into the weekend. a few showers around particularly in the eastern and western coasts of the uk. more details on the website. goodbye. hello, it's wednesday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme. can the international development secretary hang on to herjob? 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